Devil's Child
by brabbit1029
Summary: "You're the devil's child! You hurt her!" "I hurt Rin." Maybe that day, when the two had that race, Haru was thinking of other things. Like the mistakes he's made in the past. A month after the regionals, Haru begins to reminisce his past and his rough relationship with his family. And Rin discovers Haru's motive behind everything. Especially why he wants to be "Free."
1. Chapter 1

_"It's all your fault!"_

_"You're cursed!"_

_"You're the devil's child!"_

The words echoed within the water, reverberating along with the ripples formed by each movement under the surface. They were muffled yet so clear, overlapping each other like waves.

_"Don't cry if you lose."_

_"Haru! It's my win. This means I'll never swim with you again. Never."_

Nanase Haruka opened his eyes, his dark hair wavering around him, his deep blue eyes slowly peeking through their lids up to the shiny surface. Small bubbles formed from his nostrils and the corners of his mouth and made their way up towards where water and air met.

_"You devil's child!"_

_"I'll never swim with you again."_

Haru slowly closed his eyes again, almost painfully. He wanted to block out all those annoying sounds. He wanted those voices to just disappear. He wanted to stay within the depths of the water forever.

_"You hurt her!"_

The words struck him like a bullet. Haru sat upright in his bathtub, gasping for air, eyes wide. Drops of water dripped down his slim body, his bangs matted against his face. He had been underwater too long, even for him. As usual, he had dozed off within the depths of his bathtub, but this time he wasn't daydreaming,

_"Devil's child!"_

The voice that always haunted him, it would never leave him alone. One thing Haru particularly enjoyed about water was that it muffled all sounds. It was hard to hear all the loud, extraneous sounds that constantly bothered him. But some voices just couldn't be blocked out by water. They were stuck in his head.

_"It's all your fault."_

Those words didn't feel real. Haru sighed and stood, the water sloshing around him. As usual, he wore his signature black trunks with purple design. He swung one leg over the edge of the tub, then the other, and made his way out of the bathroom.

It had been almost a month since the regional tournament. Almost a month since Haru had seen Rin. Almost a month since Rin had claimed his victory.

And the chances were that Haru would never see his old friend and rival ever again.

Haru wrapped a towel around the bottom half of his body and looked at his reflection in the mirror, his eyes shining like deep pools.

_"You broke her!"_

An image of a small, blue-haired boy flashed in Haru's mind. He raised his hand up towards his face, palm-facing inward. They were such small, nimble hands, and yet...

_"I hate you!"_

They had done so much damage.

Then Haru recalled the race he had with Rin before he left for Australia. The sight of Rin on his knees, crying, tore Haru apart. But he was too shaken to move. Finally, he had regained his sense and stepped forward to comfort him.

But the next thing he knew, Rin got up and walked right past him, hair flying, tears mixing with the pool water. Haru could only stand in confusement as his friend left him.

"Haru-chan!"

Haru's thoughts were broken by the call of Nagisa from downstairs. Apparently, the rest of the team had let themselves into his house. Again.

Still, he lived alone, so it was kind of nice for a change...

"Haru-chan! You in the bathtub again?"

Or not.

Haru stepped down the stairs, not bothering to change. He entered his living room, dripping. Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei were already sitting around his living room table.

"Of course you were in the tub, Haru-chan!" Nagisa, loud and bubbly as usual, beamed. Back at the regional tournament, he had come in third place and didn't make it into the next round. Rei, surprisingly, lasted two rounds, and Makoto as well. But none of them won the finals.

"Good morning, Haru." Makoto smiled his usual calm smile.

"There isn't school today." Haru noted.

"We wanted to come over anyway!" Nagisa sat cross-legged at the table. "My parents are out of town, so I have nothing to do at home!"

"Sorry for bothering." Rei bowed his head, glasses gleaming under the light.

"Now that I think about it, you're parents are always out on business, right?" Nagisa leaned across the table. "Now that I think about it, I've never met them!"

For once, Haru spoke. "They're very busy."

Haru silently took a seat in between Rei and Makoto. Makoto, being as observant as he always was of his friends, noticed that something seemed off about Haru. "Is something wrong, Haru?"

Nagisa, who as usual, was teasing Rei, and Rei, who as usual, was retorting angrily, looked up at Makoto's question. Deep down, Haru felt uncomfortable under their gazes, but he replied with his usual curt, minimal tone. "Nothing."

Nagisa and Rei continued their quarrel, thinking that Haru was telling the truth. But Makoto continued to stare as Haru emotionlessly watched his two friends bicker.

_"You hurt her!"_

_"I hurt Rin."_

No one noticed Haru's hand curl up into a tight fist, his eyes gleaming.

_"I hurt everyone."_

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**I just love Haru, so I decided to make a fanfic about him! Please leave reviews!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I just watched episode 8! So much drama! THE FEELS! But this story will still follow my timeline, though it may or may not be affected by that episode. Enjoy!**

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"I'm back, senpai!" Aiichiro Nitori entered the room he shared with his senpai, Matsuoka Rin, a towel draped around his neck. He had just gotten out of the showers. Sitting on the bottom bunk of the bed on the side of the room was Rin. He was rubbing his dripping reddish-brown hair with a towel, hunched over the edge of his bed. He looked up at Nitori with his usual indifference. The two had just gotten out of the showers after their afternoon practice. Even though many of their members had won at the tournament, they still had to practice hard for regionals.

"Did you have a nice shower?" Nitori asked with his usual polite, cheerful tone. Rin simply grunted "Yeah," and continued drying his hair.

He zoned out as Nitori began droning on about the day's practice, grabbing the open cold drink on his nightstand while he was at it. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of the shiny gold medal hanging on the wall to his right, behind a tall trophy sitting on the counter in front. It was his trophy from the tournament. A spark of the triumph and accomplishment he had felt back when he had finally defeated Haru. The excitement of finally swimming ahead of Haru, lane-by-lane...and yet, something felt off. True, he had felt elated to have finally moved on. But something still didn't feel right.

His goal had been to defeat Haru. So why did he still feel like something was missing?

"Senpai!"

Nitori's voice snapped him out of his daze. Rin looked up to find his perky kouhai's face only inches from his. In the midst of his chatter, Nitori had taken a seat on the bed besides Rin. The boy really idolized his senpai, though Rin honestly found his respect a bother. Still, Nitori was reliable and determined when it came to swimming.

"Is something wrong?" Nitrori had apparently noticed Rin's mental absence because he wore a look of concern as leaned in towards Rin. Rin made a "back off" face and propped his elbows on his knees, his fingers loosely holding on to the rim of the half-empty can of juice. "It's nothing."

"Oh." Nitori grabbed the towel rung around his neck and continued to ruffle it through his hair when he seemed to remember something and faced his senpai again. "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to tell you something."

"What?" Rin barely looked up at Nitori with little interest. He tilted his head back and took a sip from his can.

"This morning, I saw Nanase-san."

Rin's eyes widened, and he abruptly fell forward as he coughed up the remaining juice stuck between his throat and his mouth. "S-Senpai!" Nitori cried out.

Rin wiped his mouth and glared at Nitori intensely. "When?"

"This morning." Nitori said softly. "I was out jogging when I saw him in my neighborhood." Rin was about to continue questioned Nitori when he stopped himself. _"Wait. Why do I care? I have nothing to do with Haru anymore. I've defeated him, so now I can move one."_ But something in his gut made him curious. Maybe it was the past friendship between him and Haru. Rin regained his composure and asked Nitori calmly. "Your neighborhood?"

"Hai." Nitori informed Rin. "My home actually isn't that far from here, so I often visit my family during morning runs."

"Why was Haru there?"

"I don't know." Nitori shrugged. "He was just standing across the street of the house of one of the people who live nearby me. He was staring at it for a long time. I thought it was a friend's house, so maybe he was going to enter, but he didn't."

Rin knew that Haru had an eccentric personality. He had a strange craving for mackerel, always stripped as soon as he saw a body of water, had millions of the same type of swimming trunks loaded in his closet, etc.

"He looked find of...sad."

"Sad?" This was news to Rin. Haru was rather emotionless. He was the silent-type and never really showed his feelings. So why did he suddenly seem so down?

"The house he was looking at belongs to the Ikoma family." Nitori continued. "They aren't very social people. I've only seen them a few times. They're a normal, married couple. I hear they once had three children, but one of them passed away. Currently they have a daughter and a son, but they're both long gone from the household." Nitori placed a hand on his chin in a thoughtful posture. "Why was Nanase-san there, I wonder?"

"Hmph." Rin looked down at his can. This feeling...was it actual concern? But, no. Rin no longer had any ties with Haru, Makoto, or Nagisa. He didn't need to care about them.

"Isn't my problem." Rin said curtly and chugged down the last of his juice.

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**Nagisa: Yay! There's been some great feedback so far!**

**Rei: We don't get that much spotlight, though.**

**Nagisa: (Pouts) You're right. Ne, ne, include us in the story more!  
**

**Brabbit1029: It's MY fanfiction! Maybe the reason why you aren't included in it so much is because you're so annoying.**

**Nagisa: WAHHH! You meanie!**

**Makoto: Good job, Brabbit-san. It's a nice story.**

**Brabbit1029: Hmph! It's only expected of me to write up a decent story!****  
**

**Haru: It was good.**

**Brabbit1029: (blushes) O-Of course it was!**

**Nagisa: OOOHHH! Someone's got a crush~! Someone's got a crush~!**

**Brabbit1029: (eyes glinting) I"M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!**

**Nagisa: (screams and runs away) AHHHHHHHH!**

**{Brabbit1029 chases him, a fiery aura of anger surrounding her}**

**Rei: Senpai, no!**

**Nagisa: HELP ME!**

**Haru: Please comment on what you think.**

**Makoto: Ne, shouldn't we be saving Nagisa...?**


End file.
